Family Feast-The Second Generation

Since Sienna is in the same class with the same teachers as Isabella was in preschool, we get to enjoy many of the same activities. Last year we enjoyed Isabella's Thanksgiving Family Feast, and Sienna did a great job this year, too! She and her classmates made Native American headbands and Pilgrim hats. They also performed a Thanksgiving poem before we ate their homemade breads and butter.

Sienna made this placemat with her family turkey that was made with all of our family member's handprints (and her footprint as the body). "Hi, Dada! Hi, Mama!"

Performing the poem with sign language
We give our thanks to you today

For all you do and all you say.
We love you so
From our heads to our toes.
Happy Thanksgiving Day!

We love that Mike works two minutes away from Sienna's school so that he can come to special events during the day.

Isabella missed the feast since she was at school.

Mike and Elijah wore the decorative teepees at hats!

Sienna and Luke

Sienna showed us the way to her classroom.

Molly, Lauren & Sienna

Swimming

Every once in a while we go to Family Swim at our local YMCA. Today was the first time that we took Elijah in the pool, and he loved it!! We got this cute swimming suit from our friend, Tom's, parents, Mr. and Mrs. M. Doesn't Elijah look like such a big boy in his little swimming trunks? I can just imagine him toddling around the beach next summer.

Ready to go!

Elijah was too busy splashing and the girls were too busy swimming to look at me for the picture.
Here's a short video clip of everyone in the pool. Sienna thought that I was just taking pictures. That's why she keeps saying, "Cheeeeeeeese!" Silly girl!

9 Month Stats

Elijah just had his nine month well-visit with the pediatrician. Here are his stats:

Height: 27 1/2 inches (28th percentile)
Weight: 18 lbs, 6.5 ounces (20th percentile)
Head Circumference: 47.2 cm

No shots during this visit!!

Teeth!

Elijah's four front teeth (central incisors, if you want to get technical) all came through within a couple weeks of each other. I think that I see a hint of another tooth (a lateral incisor) coming in on the top, too! I don't remember the girls getting this many teeth all at once. Elijah looks so much older to me all of a sudden! What is happening to my baby?!?!

Halloween Activities

Like we did last year, we enjoyed several weeks of fun Halloween activities in and around town. This year both of the girls and I rode on the MOMS Club float in our town's annual Halloween parade. It was a beautiful day and the girls loved throwing candy to their friends along the parade route.

MOMS Club float

Andre (The Flash), John (pirate), Isabella ("Pajama Girl") and Chloe (gymnast)

Sienna (Ariel) and Mama

Isabella ready to throw candy!

Pumpkin Carving

We had lots of fun designing and carving our pumpkins again this year. As usual, Isabella was the all-star pumpkin scooper!

Isabella's "Jagged Teeth" Design

Sienna's "Wolf" and Elijah's "Spiky Hair" Pumpkins

The masterpieces: "Howling Wolf" and "Wicked Spider"

Pre-Halloween Trick-or-Treating

One of our local grocery stores was recently renovated, and they hosted a fun Halloween event along with Radio Disney. The girls decided to dress up as a tiger and a puppy.
There were lots of fun activities like...

trick-or-treating around the store
(in addition to candy, the girls got toothbrushes, apple slices and cheese sticks),

decorating mini pumpkins,

air-brushed tattoos,

(Isabella got a tiger tattoo)

(Sienna got a puppy tattoo)

and balloon animals.

Burble, one of the Danger Rangers, made an appearance.

Pat Patriot, the Patriots mascot, was there, too!

Elijah watched everything from his stroller.
(I picked up some beverages to enjoy later!)

It was a great event and everything was free including samples of hot dogs, chicken nuggets, cider, cookies, brownies and ice cream! Hopefully, they'll do this again next year!

Happy Halloween!

After all of the events leading up to the big day, it's finally Halloween!
The girls got to dress up for parties at school. Sienna was Ariel again and Isabella was Batman.
Elijah wore this cute bear costume during the day. (Thanks, Caron!)

Mike and Mark took the kids trick-or-treating again this year while Elijah and I stayed home to hand out candy. Since all of the kids were big enough to walk (or run) and they didn't need to bring the wagon, they made record timing and got to every house in the neighborhood in about a half an hour.
The howling wolf looked a little shriveled and sad by Halloween night. Mark thought that it was a camel!
Elijah checked out his prize-winning pumpkin!
Kate, another neighbor, joined the girls for trick-or-treating. Sienna went back to the tiger costume but Isabella stuck with Batman. It's a good thing that we have lots of dress-up clothes so the girls have options!

The Results are In!

Here are the results of the
2008 Petro Family Pumpkin Carving Contest:

Adult Category
First Place: Howling Wolf carved by Mike. (Bummer!)
He would like it to be known that he did not use a stencil. He did, however, print this picture off of the internet, and he referred to it when he drew it "free hand" on his pumpkin. Kids' Category
First Place: Spiky Hair. This is technically Elijah's pumpkin; although, Isabella wanted to design it. She drew this picture on a piece of paper, and then I copied it onto the pumpkin ("free hand"-like Mike!!) and I carved it.
We received a total of 126 votes for the adult pumpkins (and 124 for the kids'). As she does every year, my mother-in-law had everyone in her office vote for their favorites, so she and her co-workers submitted 67 votes. There were 46 votes on the poll and another 13 votes that I received via e-mail. Here are the final results:

Adult Category:
First Place (46) Howling Wolf carved by Mike
Second Place (29) Wicked Spider carved by Liz (with a stencil and proud of it!!)
Third Place (26) Sponge Bob Vampire carved by Travis in Seattle. Travis said that it took 2 hours to carve his pumpkin. He definitely wins for most detailed carving!
Fourth Place (14) Jack-o-lantern carved by my cousin, Megan, in San Diego (without a stencil or a picture and proud of it!)
Fifth Place (5) Witch and Moon carved by Annika in Seattle
Sixth Place (4) Boo and Ghosts carved by Tanya S. in Sharon, MA
Seventh Place (2) Funny Face carved by Jim S. in Sharon, MA (with a drill!!) Jim wins for most creative carving tool!!
*I received multiple comments that it was hard to see Tanya and Jim's designs since the pictures were taken during the day. They would have been more dramatic if they were taken in the dark. Keep that in mind for next year!!!

Kids' Category-a much closer race!
First Place (31) Spiky Hair designed by Isabella although it was Elijah's (8 months) pumpkin
Second Place (29) Jagged Teeth drawn by Isabella (age 5) and carved by Mike
Third Place (25) "Wolf" drawn by Sienna (age 3) on a piece of paper (after seeing Mike's howling wolf)-copied and carved by Liz
Fourth Place (24) Bat by Madison H. (age 5) in Seattle
Fifth Place (11) Two Teeth by Ben S. (age 2 1/2) in Sharon, MA
Sixth Place (4) Triangle Eyes by Maddie S. (age 4 1/2) in Sharon, MA

Thank you to everyone who submitted pictures of their carvings and to all of you who voted!!! It may look like it was rigged since our family took all of the top spots in both categories, but we truly didn't tell anyone who carved each pumpkin until now. We'd love to have even more entries next year, so start thinking about your designs now!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

Pumpkin Carving Contest 2008

It's time for our annual pumpkin carving contest. This year our contest has gone coast-to-coast! We have some entries from Seattle (and possibly San Diego)! We've also added a children's category. There are six entries for each category. Please vote for one adult's entry and one child's entry. The winner will be announced on Halloween night. You may either click on your choice for each category on the poll to the right, or you may e-mail me your votes. Thanks for participating! ***We have a late addition. One more adult entry has been added! Unfortunately, I can't add the Jack-o-lantern to the poll because people have already voted. If you'd like to vote for the new entry, please e-mail me or leave a comment and I'll keep track of those votes.

Adult Entries

Howling Wolf

Witch and Moon

Boo and Ghosts

Wicked SpiderFunny Face

Sponge Bob Vampire

Jack-o-lantern

Kids' Entries

Bat

"Wolf"

Triangle EyesJagged TeethTwo Teeth

Spiky Hair